Kimi Raikkonen says he had “ꦚzero idea” Carlos Sainz was alongside him during their bizarre Turn 10 clash as Formula 1 pre-season testing drew to a close.

In a strꦑange end to the final day of running in Bahrain, Raikkonen and Ferrari’s Sainz ended u💫p wheel-to-wheel under braking for Turn 10 before both drivers slewed off the track to avoid a collision.

The pair conti♕nued to squabble along the straight towards the braking zone at Turn 11, as Sainz chased down Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo before eventually backing off.

ꦐ“I don’t think we 🥂touched,” the Finn said when asked about the incident.

“I had zero idea he was there, saw him at the last minute and pulled right, but I don’t know. I guess he was pissed𒐪 off and tried to play games, but I don’t think we touched – I didn’t feel anything.”

F1’s most experienced driver enjoyed a strong final day as he racked up a whopping 165 laps on his way to finishing fourth in the timesheets, managing a best lap that was within a second of Max Verstappen’s benchꦑmark time.

While Raikkonen is refusing to get carried away with his eye-catching time from the final day, he is hopeful that Alfa Romeo will start the season in a better position compared 🅷to 2020.

“Obꩵviously, it’s only t🎀esting, and we never know what the others are doing, but purely on feeling, for sure it is better than it was last year,” he said.

“[We look] faster, compared to the others, than at the end of last year. It’s just testing, but the feeling w🅷ith the car is a lot better and that’s the main thing. We’ll see, in a few weeks🌱’ time, where we end up.”